No More Public Comment at South Blooming Grove Board Meetings
Joel Stern wants you to vote for Congressman Pat Ryan, but Stern doesn't want you to speak at South Blooming Grove Village Board Meetings. Or have the Congressman answer tough questions about SBG.
Above: Joel Stern’s United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove endorses Pat Ryan for Congress. Pat Ryan has frequently visited South Blooming Grove, but despite the ongoing EPA investigation, New York State Department of Health Investigation, and New York State DEC Investigation, Mr. Ryan has ONLY met with Joel Stern and the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove during his now frequent visits to the area.
Congressman Pat Ryan has NOT met village residents suffering from the consequences of Mr. Stern’s actions. In fact, his office has actively ignored calls and emails from village residents asking for his help in resolving the Village’s ongoing municipal water crisis, which has been compared to a miniature Flint, Michigan – caused by Stern – and the pollution of the Ramapo River. The latter issue affects the drinking water supply of over two million people.
Just a short post today. (I’m going to try to cap these suckers at no more than 1,800 words in the future. But good luck with that shit, right?)
If you live in Southern Orange County, I invite you to the November 4th, 2024 Village of South Blooming Grove Board meeting. The meeting will be held at 8pm at Village Hall (811 Route 208, Monroe, NY 10950.)
Why?
The Village only budgeted $100,000 for water in those two years.
Not to mention, Orange County’s Department of Health told them to stop bringing that water back in 2023.
However, because Crooked County Executive Steve Neuhaus has zero balls, Orange County can only send long non-compliance letters (such as these) and then follow those letters up with zero enforcement.
It is not clear how South Blooming Grove is paying for this water. I suspect they used the grant they got from New York State to purchase the ANUE hardware, which they never did, leading to an ongoing — and life-threatening — issue in the Village of Monroe.
But because South Blooming Grove does not comply with FOIL requests, we can only guess for now.
(It’s November 2nd. So, I can now say with 100% certainty that the Village of South Blooming Grove is going to find itself on the ass end of an Article 78 proceeding due to FOIL non-compliance this month. The time for guessing will soon be over.)
So, residents have a right to ask how much they’ve paid in full for the water being trucked in (this practice has been going on since 2021, so there’s a reasonable impression here that the Village has spent more than a million dollars on this.)
They also have a right to know where that money comes from for the water.
They also have the right to accurate information about when the water situation will end because it’s not “imminently,” as Mr. Al Fusco of Fusco Engineering said at the budget workshop.
It’s 2027 at the earliest.
You know, a whole ass two years from now?
Remember: There is also no magic well-owned by Mosayonu Grove LLC (Bernard Jacobowitz.)
Stern has repeatedly lied to anyone and everyone about this well, including the accountant running the budget workshop. The DEC has no information on this well. The Orange County Department of Health has no information on this well, and I really doubt Mr. Stern has any actual information on this well.
There is also no water forthcoming from Clovewood. If you’ll recall, Orange County’s Department of Public Health was told those wells would NOT be connected to the crumbling municipal water infrastructure that the federal EPA is now investigating. (Stern denies there is an EPA investigation. The EPA has confirmed to The Monroe Gazette that there IS an investigation.)
There is still a permit and approvals Clovewood needs to move forward, and there is going to be legal action coming down the pike concerning that project. So, despite what Mr. Stern has informed the readers of his United Jewish Community newsletter, the water will not “be flowing” and construction will not begin “immediately.”
It’s pretty clear Mr. Stern knows this, because public comment is a thing of the past at South Blooming Grove meetings.
Here is the agenda from September of 2024:
And now here is the agenda for the November 4th meeting:
You see what’s missing?
But there’s some good news here.
Because before the regularly scheduled Village Board meeting starts, there IS a public hearing, and that public hearing on the budget WILL have public comment:
So, while you will no longer be allowed to speak at South Blooming Grove Village Board meetings, you will get to speak at this budget hearing. That’s why it’s important for you to go.
One last thing …
If you live over in Woodbury, I HIGHLY recommend you attend this Village Board meeting in South Blooming Grove.
I want you to see what Woodbury will become, given a super majority between Clovewood Kathryn (Woodbury Town Supervisor Katrhyn Luciani) and a Village Board consisting of Etzel Jr. - Freiband - Fabbro - Keleman.
I’m not joking either. If you live in Woodbury, and you haven’t been taking this local village board election seriously, you should know that there are consequences. And the consequences will be EXACTLY what you see unfold in South Blooming Grove on Monday night at 8pm.
You should be there.
Pat Ryan already was.
Above: Congressman Pat Ryan (center left) meeting with Joel Stern (far right), Isaac Ekstein (left of Mr. Stern), and others at the controversial Clovewood property.
In over six months, Pat Ryan’s office has refused to answer questions, or act on the following requests concerning Mr. Stern, submitted by South Blooming Grove residents:
The Congressman should draft a letter to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner, Sean Mahar, requesting that all permits granted to Keen Equities (Clovewood) be revoked due to the company’s repeated failure to comply with stop work notices and fines issued by the DEC.
2. The EPA has confirmed they are investigating the situation in South Blooming Grove. This investigation MUST examine the following:
The rampant, unpermitted construction in the Village is releasing dangerous amounts of PM2.5 into the air. The CDC has said PM2.5 is particularly dangerous for elderly populations, of which South Blooming Grove has a significant number.
The municipal water supply’s structural failures, which the Orange County Department of Health notified the Village about in 2022 and again in 2023, and the continued permitting of more construction by the Village despite warnings provided to them that there is not enough water to supply current residents.
The continued pollution of Satterly Creek, a Hudson River Estuary, by unpermitted construction in the Village, is putting Cornwall residents in danger. Satterly Creek provides drinking water, and the continued discharge of debris and other materials is putting those residents in danger.
3. The FBI field office in Poughkeepsie has been duly informed about the ongoing situation in South Blooming Grove. In fact, they’ve known about these issues, beginning with reports of voter fraud committed by members of the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove organization. This information was provided to them in 2021 by the Orange County District Attorney’s office. It’s now 2024. It’s time for the FBI to act and investigate this organization and its members, as you will find a direct connection between everything I listed here in this letter to this organization, specifically concerning its founding board member, Joel Stern, its president, Isaac Ekstein, and Moche Halpern.
4. Finally, the IRS has received whistleblower complaints concerning the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove and its founders, Mr. Stern and Mr. Ekstein. The IRS should receive from your office a request to commit to investigating this organization and its financial ties with developers such as Keen Equities and Mr. Avaraham Bur Jacobowitz, who is alleged to have provided much of the money for this organization to operate. Applying both the FBI and the Southern Poverty Law Center’s definition of a hate group, United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove would qualify for such a designation and should be treated with the same scrutiny as other hate groups who often try to hide behind Not-for-Profit status.
Instead of addressing any of these issues, Congressman Pat Ryan has frequently visited South Blooming Grove, but only to see Joel Stern, and never to address any of the above concerns about Mr. Stern’s actions.
“Unfortunately, I Don’t Have An Answer …”
From Congressman Pat Ryan’s office:
Below, I took the invitation from Congressman Pat Ryan’s email seriously and called his office:
Spoke to the Village Clerk and she said that since there were two public hearings at this meeting she eliminated the public comments during the regular meeting to speed things along. She said they would be back at the next meeting, but all written comments would be included in the minutes. I, for one, will say what I want to say at the first public hearing, and probably add more at the second.
If the public will not be allowed to comment at the meetings, they can comment on the live stream before or after the meeting.